Line spacing control for typewriters



Feb. 5, 1952 J. E. su 2,584,817

LINE SPACING CONTROL FOR TYPEWRITERS Filed March 12, m9 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR ATTORNEY Feb. 5, 1952 Y J E, s L 2,584,817

LINE SPACING CONTROL FOR TYPEWRITERS Filed March 12, 1949 s Sheets-Sheet 2 62 {4 INVENTOR JOHN E. SILL BQZMW ATTORNEY J. E. SILL LINE SPACING CONTROL FOR TYPEWRITERS Feb. 5, 1952 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed March 12, 1949 INVENTOR JOHN E. SILL BY I ATTORNEY Patented Feb. 5, 1952 LINE SPACING CONTROL FOR" TYPEWRITERS John E. Sill, Poughkeepsie, N. Y., assi ns to' International Business Machines Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application March 12, 1949, Serial No. 81,062

c Claims. (01. 197-114) This invention relates to typewriting machines.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide asirnple and eflicient means of feeding small forms into position to print the first An object is to provide an automatic line spacing device suitable for use with small forms.

An object is to provide a means of repeatedly line spacing a form with an automatic and adjustable termination of the line spacing at a predetermined point.

Other objects of the invention will be pointed out in the following description and claims and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, which disclose, by way of example, the principle of the invention and the best mode, which has been contemplated, of applying that principle.

In the drawings:

Fig. l is a perspective view of a carriage return and line spacing mechanism showing certain components of the present invention attached thereto.

Fig. 2 is a view of line spacing control device.

Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3-3 in Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a section on the line 4-4 in Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a wiring diagram.

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a modified form of the invention.

Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig. 2 of a modified form of spacing control device suitable for use with the form shown in Fig. 6.

Fig. 1 shows a line space and carriage return mechanism used in a commercial form of power operated typewriter known as theTBM electric typewriter and formerly known as the Electromatic. It will be understood, however, that the invention may be applied to other Lforms of typewriting machines with suitable modifications in the shape of the parts and without departing from the basic principle of the invention as disclosed herein.

The numeral l0 designates a portion of the carriage on which is mounted the marginal usual carriage return tape M which is anchored at IE to the carriage l0 and passes around a pulley carried by the lever IS. The tape then passes around a guide pulley l6 mounted on a fixed part of the machine and is wound on a pulley l1 forming part of the carriagereturn mechanism generally designated 18. This carriage return-mechanismis=disc1osed in .Patent 2,104,559, and will not be described in detail herein. I I r The carriage return mechanism is controlled by the carriage return key- CRK which is pivoted on a cross rod [9 and controls a .cam unit 20. The cam unit cooperates with power roller 2| and, when the carriage returnkey CRK is depressed, the cam unit is rendered operative by the power roller 21 ina well known way and rocks clockwise on the pivot rod 20a to engage the carriage return clutch, in alwell known way through alink connection 22; The clutch is generally designated 23 in the drawings and, when engaged, causes the pulley. I! 'to turn in a clockwise'direction .to wind thetape M. The initial movement of thetapeoperates the lever 13 and the line'space mechanism. and thereafter the carriage is returned in a. we11 known way.- 3 g f;

Each time the cam unit 20 is operate.d,..con tacts C3 are closed and, in the .presentfcasel, the cam unit is equipped with a repeating-cam which causes the ,cam unit to be repeatedly operatedwhen thekey CRK is continuously held depressed The key CRK may be operated electrically undercontrol of the carriage return solenoid CRS whichis operative to draw down the key CRK each timesuch solenoid is ener; gized. f I.

Figs. .2, 3, and 4 show the constructiQnpfQa line spacing control device which is used to an,- tomatically control sequences of line spacing operations which are induced manually by the depression of an automatic spacing key ASK which may. be ,mounted anywhere. on the typewriterand whichcontrols the automatic spacing contacts ASC (Fig. 5). The control device consists of a base plate 24 which may be mounted in any convenient place on the inachine, preferably in the interior of the 'base where it will be out of the way and'cannot be reached by the operator.- Mounted on the plate 24 is a stud 25 on which isjournalled the ratchet 26." Cooperating with the ratchet 26 is an operatin pawl 21 pivoted at 28c on the armature lever 28 which in turn is pivoted at 29 on a stud carried by the plate 24. The armature lever 28 and the: pawlv 21 are urged in a counterclockwise direction by means of a spring 30 which is anchored to a fixed pin 3l and carried by the plate 24. I

The portion, of the pawl 21 cooperatin with the ratchet 26 1s .slit to form three fingers, the

central finger cooperating with the teeth of the ratchet 26 and the other two fingers being bent downwardly on each side of the ratchet 26 to insure that the central finger will remain in engagement with the ratchet 26 and will not slip sidewise off the ratchet. The central finger is held by the spring, 39 against 'a pin Sid and said spring tends to jam the central finger into the teeth of the ratchet 26 to prevent overthrow.

The armature 28 may be retracted by means. of a control magnet CM mounted on the plate- 24 and, when so attracted and released, the spring 30 will draw the pawl 21 and the lever 28- to the left thereby rotating the ratchet 25. counterclockwise (Figs. 2 and 4) one tooth space. Retrograde movement of the ratchet 2.3 is preventedby a pawl 32 pivoted on a stud carried by the plate 24 and spring-urged into engagement with the ratchet by a spring 33.

Secured to-the face of the ratchet 2 6 is a cam 34 which, inpnelllustrative embodiment of the invention, may have-three notches 34a (Fig.4) and the ratchet wheel 26 may have sixty'teeth. Cooperating with the cam 34, and loosely mounted on the stud 25, is asecond 'cam 35'similar to the cam- 34. Both-cams are provided with clutch teeth 34b, 3512 which nest'and-the teeth are held in engagement byaspring 36 which-is interposed between a retaining clip Ill-and the left-hand face (Fig.3) of the cam 35.' Itis possible to manually disengage the teeth 35b of the cam 35 from the teeth 34b by grasping the cam35 with the fingers and pulling it to the leftlFig. 3). The cam may then be rotated to place the notches 33a thereinin any desired angular relation to the notches 34min the cam 34' determined solely by thefineness of pitch of the clutch teeth in the cams.

Cooperating with the cams 34 and 35 are the cam follower levers 38, 39 which are pivotally mounted on a stud 40 carriedby the plate 24 and each of which has. a tooth 38a, 39a adapted to ride on the peripheries of the adjacent cams andito drop intothe notches 34a, 35a, therein.

Associated with the levers 38, 39' are the contactsCl' and, C2, respectively, which are insulatably mounted on the bracket..4|... The upper spring member for each pair of contacts Cl, C2 has an insulating block bearing against the underside of the endof the adjacent cam follower 38.or 39, as the case may be, and each spring biased. upwardly soas .to maintain its. cam follower in engagement. withthe periphery of the cam.

In order to understand the operation of the device, it will be assumedv that short continuous forms arebeingused. in which the first lines of two successive forms are twenty line spaces apart and that-the cams 34:, .35 -have.-.been manually adjusted relative to each other so that the notches 34a, 35aof both,-when projected on the face of the ratchet 2&,.will be twenty-teeth apart relatrveto-thearatchet. Now let. it. be supposed that the operator -writesonly a small amount of material on the form which may vary-.in-respect to the numberof lines which, for the moment, may be considered-as threelines. After each of thelines is written, the operator will depress the carriage return key in theusual manner causing the-carriage to-be returned and the platenline spaced. Each time the carriage return key CRKlFigs. land 5-) is depressed, contacts C3 will close and energize the'magnet CM momentarily, causing the ratchet 28 (Fig. 2) to be advanced one tooth space.

Initially one of the cams 38, 39, it is not material which, always will be in the position shown in Fig. 4 in which the tooth 38a or 39a on the arm 38 or 39 will rest in the notch in the cam holding the related contacts Cl or C2 open. The other cam follower 39 or 38 will have its tooth 39a or 38a riding on the periphery of the cam 35 or 34, holding the other contacts C2 or Cl closed. 'Ihe'fi-rstline space operation after Writing the first line on the form advances the ratchet 26 one tooth space and causes the arm 38 or 39 (in this case both arms) to be cammed clockwise thereby closing the second, set of contacts Cl or C2. This will be true because, when one of the cams has been displaced, relative to the other, the other cam will be holding the second set of contacts Cl or C2 closed with the result that both sets of contacts always will be in closed condition when a second impulse is given to the magnet CM. However, at this time, closure of contacts Cl, CZhas no effect on the circuits shown in Fig. 5 in which both the'contacts Cl, C2 are in series with the relay R.

After the desired number of lines has been written and theoperator is ready to type the next form, she presses the automatic space key ASK and closes contacts ASC. Since contacts Cl, C2 are now closed, the relay R will be energized in parallel with the carriage return solenoid CBS and the relay R will close its contacts to establish a holding circuit for itself and the solenoi-d CRS, the holding circuit for the relay R being maintained through the contacts Cl, C2. Since the carriage return key will now be held depressed and since the cam unit 20 has a repeating cam, the line spacing mechanism will be operated continually and the ratchet 26 will be automatically advanced one tooth for each line spacing operation until eventually one of the notches 34a, 35a in one of the cams 34, 35 will pass into cooperation with the tooth 38a, 38a on one of the followers 38, 39v and permit the associated contacts Cl or C2 to open.

With the prescribed setting of the cams 38, 39 and three initial line space operations, seventeen line space operations will take place automatically in consequence of the momentary depression of the automatic space key ASK. If the op erator writes ten lines on the form, then the notches 34a, 35a in the cams 34, 35 will be only ten tooth spaces of movement, referring to the ratchet 26, from the teeth 38a, 39b on cam followers 38, 39.

The invention is very useful in the typing of forms which must be handled at high speed with a minimum of manipulations. A good illustration is certificates like automobile license certificates. These forms usually are only two or three inches high at the most and connected by perforations. Usually only a few lines are written on each form and, under'the conditions of operation, the operator of the machine is under considerable pressure to fill in the forms as quickly as possible. Usually these forms are filled out by the clerks while the license applicants are waiting in line and it is absolutely necessary that they be filled out very rapidly. After each certificate is typed, the operator merely has to depress the key ASK and the remainder of the certificate form is rapidly line spaced to bring the first line of the next certificate intoposition for writing the first item of application data which, in the case of drivers licenses, usually is the applicants name followed by the address and particulars as to the applicants physical characteristics. Ordinarily, after the last line is written, the operator either has to rotate the platen by hand and then manipulate the form to adjust the first line in readiness for writing or has to rapidly line space the form by repeated depression of the carriage return key. This is a very tedious operation and, when a very large number of forms must be typed, is very slow and delays the filling in of the certificates.

The device shown in Figs. 2 to 4 is not limited to any particular size of form since the cams 34, 35 may be displaced relative to each other to vary the range of line spacing to suit the length of the form and the number of lines typed thereon and since most typewriters have a line space range of single, double, and triple spacing. For example, the cams 34, 35 may be displaced relative to each other ten teeth referred to ratchet 26 and the forms may be ten line spaces or a multiple thereof in length. In a pica machine which line spaces six lines of single spacing per inch of form, a form could be 1%, 3 /3, or 5 inches long with the ten tooth setting just mentioned. In the first case described, with a twenty tooth setting, the forms could be 3%, 6%, or 10 inches long. By substituting cams having different numbers of notches 34a, 35a and/or ratchets 26 having diflerent numbers of teeth, the device shown in Figs. 2, 3, and 4 can be adapted to any commercial size of form and any number of lines of typing.

In Figs. 6 and 7 there is shown a modification which has some advantages over the form of the invention shown in Figs. 1 to 5 although the principle of operation is the same. In the modification, the relay R has been eliminated and the control device is actuated mechanically by the carriage return cam unit rather than by a solenoid controlled by contacts actuated by the carriage return cam unit.

The carriage return and automatic space keys are designated CRK and ASK in Fig. 6 of which the key CRK is pivoted on a cross rod 49 and the key ASK is pivoted on a stud 56 carried by the key CRK.

The carriage return cam unit is designated 5! and is pivoted on the cross rod 52. The cam unit 5| has a link connection 53 operating the carriage return clutch and other parts associated with the carriage return mechanism which may be similar in principle to the one disclosed in Fig. 1 although the parts are specifically difierent in shape. Since the shape of these parts is not involved in the operation of the automatic spacing mechanism, they will not be described in detail herein.

The frame of the cam unit 5| has an extension 5m cooperating with a lug 54a on a lever 54 pivoted on the stud 55 carried by the framework of the machine. The lever 54 extends to the left and has a link connection 56 which, as shown in Fig. 7, is pivoted to the lower end of a lever 58 carrying a feed pawl similar to the feed-pawl 27 shown in Figs. 2 to 4. Each time the carriage return cam unit is rendered operative by the power roller (not shown) it is rocked counterclockwise (Fig. 6) and actuates the lever 54 in a counterclockwise direction thereby pushing the link 56 to the left (Fig. 7). The spring 58a restores lever 58 and advances the ratchet one tooth space.

The control device shown in Fig. 7 may be identical in construction with the one disclosed in Fig. 2. In Fig. 7, however, there is shown a somewhat modified form having cams 59 provided with teeth 59a instead of notches and the contacts CI, C2 are normally closed and are opened when the follower arm 60is rocked clockwise by the engagement of a tooth 59a with a. tooth formed in the follower arm 60.

The carriage return key CRK (Fig. 6) has a link connection 6| to the trip lever 54b of the cam unit 5| whereby the depression of the carriage return key trips the cam unit and causes a line spacing and carriage return operation exactly as in the case of the mechanism disclosed in Fig. 1.

The automatic space key ASK has a downward extension 62 resting on a finger 63 forming part of a contact assembly mounted on the armature plate 64 of the magnet CRM which is equivalent to the solenoid CBS in Fig. 1. The armature plate 64 is actuated in a counterclockwise direction by the spring 65 and the armature plate 64 is pivoted on a suitable knife edge located between the posts 66a comprising part of the frame 66 of the magnet CRM.

The frame 66 has a fixed contact member 61 (Fig. 6) cooperating with a contact carried by a spring contact blade 68 mounted on the armature plate 64 by means of the same screws as the finger 63. The latter has a link connection 69 to the carriage return key CRK arranged so that the-depression of the carriage return key CK merely causes the link 69 to move downward through a hole in the finger 63 but, when the automatic space key ASK' is depressed, the ex-- tension 62 presses down the finger 63 and the armature plate 64 to close the contacts 61, 68 which correspond in function to the contacts ASC in Fig. 1. At the same time, the finger 63 engages a horizontally bent portion 69a of the link 69 and draws down the carriage return key CRK. The cam unit 5|, as in the case of the cam unit 26 in Fig. 1, has a repeating cam and will continue to operate if the carriage return key CRK is held down.

The contacts Cl, C2 (Fig. 7), the magnet CRM, and the contacts 67, 68 are in a simple series circult across the power source.

When the operator desires to automatically space the form which has just been completed and bring into writin position the. next succeeding form, she will depress the automatic space key ASK. This closes the contacts 61, 68, operates the key CRK through link 69, and causes the solenoid CRM to be energized to hold down the armature plate 64 and thereby, through the finger 63 and the link 69, holds down the carriage return key CRK with the result that line spacing operations will be initiated and continue until the contacts Cl C2 are opened.

While in Figs. 2 to 4 there has been shown two cams and two pairs of contacts Cl and C2, it is not necessary that two he provided since either of the contacts Cl, C2 alone is capable of stopping the line spacing operation. The advantage of the control device shown in Fig. 2 is that one cam 35 may be adjusted relative to the other to control the number of automatic" spacing operatlons to suit the particular forms in use. In the construction shown in Fig. 7 it is also contemplated that two cams and two sets of contacts Cl may be provided, but a single cam and set of contacts is sufiicient. It will be understood, therefore, that the shape of the cam, the number of cams, the number of teeth on the ratchet, and

. it requires very little mechanical alteration in a machine in the field to add the solenoid CBS and the contacts C3 whereas, in the structure shown in Figs. 6 and 7, space must be provided in advance of manufacture of the machine for the mechanical parts and the magnet CRM.

While there have been shown and described and pointed out the fundamental novel features of theinvention as applied to a preferred embodiment, it will be understood that various omissions and substitutions and changes in the form and details of the device illustrated and in its operation may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention. It is the intention, therefore, to be limited only as indicated by the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In combination, power line spacing mechanism includin a line spacing key, a line spacing clutch, and a power device rendered effective by depression of said key to periodically actuate said clutch; a switching device periodically actuated in step with said power device and effective at regular line space intervals including a driving magnet and contacts actuated by said power device for energizing said magnet to drive the switching device in step with line spacing operations, a magnet controlle by said switching device for depressing said' key, an automatic spacing key, and means rendered effective by said last named key for placing said second magnet under control of said switchin d vice.

2. In combination, power line spacing mechanism including a line spacing key, a line spacing clutch, and a power device rendered effective by depression of said key to periodically actuate said clutch, a switching device periodically actuated in step with said power device and effective at regular line space intervals including a ratchet and pawl means actuated by said power devicefor driving the switching device in step with line spacing operations, a magnet controlled by said switching device for depressing said key, an automatic spacing key, and means rendered effective by said last named key for placing said magnet under controlof said switching device.

3. In combination, a line spacing mechanism, means for causing operation of the line spacing mechanism; a device for counting line spacing operations including actuating means for driving said device in step with operation of the line spacing mechanism and means to limit operation of the line spacing mechanism to a predetermined number of operations, said actuating means including a magnet for operating said device; contacts operated by the line spacing mechanism for closing a circuit to said magnet with each operation of the line spacing mechanism, and a device for placing the first named means under control of the limiting means.

4. In combination, a line spacing mechanism, means for causing operation of the line spacing mechanism; a device for counting line spacing operations including actuating means for driving said device in step with operation of the line spacing mechanism, and means to limit operation of the line spacing mechanism to a predetermined number of operations, said actuating means including a ratchet and pawl device actuated by the line spacing mechanism once for each operation of the latter; and a device for placing the first named means under control of the limiting means.

5. In combination with a'line spacing mechanism having a device for causing line space operations, a magnet for actuating said device, a ratchet, a feed pawl for said ratchet, a magnet for actuating said feed pawl, switching means controlled by said ratchet for partly closing a circuit to the first magnet upon an initial step of feed of the ratchet and for opening said circuit after a predetermined rotation of said ratchet, contact means associated with the first device for closing a circuit to the second magnet once for each line space operation of said mechanism, and switching means for completing the first circuit.

6. In combination with a line spacing mechanism having a device for causing line spacing operations, control means including a magnet for rendering said device effective, a ratchet, a feed pawl for said ratchet, means controlled by said device for actuating said feed pawl, a switching device driven by said ratchet for partly closing a circuit for said magnet upon an initial step of movement of said ratchet and operative to interrupt said circuit after a predetermined number of line space operations, and switching means for completing said circuit.

JOHN E. SILL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,255,011 Lake et a1 Sept. 2, 1941 2,285,258 Doty June 2, 1942 

